Sound control?

I should probley know the answer to this but I'm not sure what to do. My wife & I just bought a house in Dec & already my sub has proven to be a small problem. My neighbor, wich thankfully is a good friend of mine can hear my sub in his house wile I'm watching a movie. In the day time It's not any big deal, but I watch movies at night most of the time. He tells me that every time I watch a movie he can hear my sub from time to time, of wich he said dosent bother him, but his wife is in bed early normally around 8 or so. Now before anyone rips me a new one I'm actley keeping things turned down pretty low, in fact well below my normal levels. But two things are going on here first off I don't by any means wont to get any neighbors pissed at me for noise. But secondly I wont to enjoy my surround system. What I really don't get is that in the house it's not loud at all. In fact my wife & kids will sleep all night with me watching movies no problem. Now I guess some of it could be that there just used to the noise but it really isn't loud in the house. Another thing is that our houses are pretty close to each other, I'd say app 30 to 40 feet between the back of mine & his. But again my previous house was even closer to the neighbor & never a problem in the three years I was there. There is one big difference between houses though. My last house was on a slab, this one is not. I have a partial basement, & than a crawl space under my theater room. I don't see how that could make much if any difference as for sound travel, but it did seam to boost my bass in the house compared to my old house. The floor is not insulated in the crawl space, & I have thought about putting some in to mabe help control sound some, but I don't know if it will do any good. I don't know if its just my friend is just being way over sensitive or if it really is a problem, but I don't wont it to become one. Not to mention I would like to be able to watch movies again without having to worry about getting anyone upset or waking neighbors. Dose anyone have any suggestions that might help? I can't afford to blow a ton of money to sound proof the room, but I'm willing to go to some extent to get back the fun of having a home theater. Thanks for any thoughts.

Does the room have windows? They are leaking the most sound. Try www.asi-stop.com for some noise blocking curtains. The fact that the house has a crawl space is also a factor. Stopping bass is not going to be easy. I'd also tack some mass loaded vinly,try www.silentsource.com or some very heavy felt paper like 90 weight, underneath the crawl space. It's going to be a hassle but you are going to have to at least do those two things to have any chance at blocking the bass. I would also caulk around the inside of outlets which is a good way to help the energy bill anyway. Depending on the size of the room, you may not have to spend a fortune to make a noticable difference.

Kevin, I never thought about windows. I have two pretty big windows in there & one small one. The felt paper isnt a bad idea either I might consider giving it a shot, I dont think it would be that hard to tack in place.

In your discription of the sub problem you never explained how your sub-woofer was setup. Is it setting directly on the floor? What kind of floor? carpet, hardwood etc. The sub's resonance level is it "booming" in your listening room. If you can hear the sub in other rooms of your house then of course it is radiating to the neighbors. First place a 1" to 2" acoustic pad under the sub. The sub should not be in a corner but on the left or right side of the room , using "Video Essentials" Audio and Video calibration CD calibrate the surround sound and sub output resonance and refraction to remove all "booming" in other words you should "hear" and not "feel" the sub. These procedures should confine the surround experience to your house. There have been numerous articles written on this subject and speaker placement and room acoustics. Hope this sheds some thoughts on your sub problem. Ed Thomas Cedia Certified Home Theater Installer

Ed, my sub is a 220liter sono tuned to app 17hz, using a Dayton 15" DVC & PE plate amp. To answer a couple of your questions, it is setting on the floor wich is carpeted, & it is in the corner. The subs response is pretty flat with a slight peak around the low 30's. It's not boomy at all or at least IMO. My buddy says what he is hearing is just deeper bass, comparable to a distant thunder clap in his words. I have yet to get a chance to go over wile a movie is playing to see just what he is hearing. Like I said in my first post in my house it is not bad at all. Not that you cant hear it because you definelty can, but its nothing that keeps the wife or kids up.